Kim Jong Unhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/kim-jong-un
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:34:03 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:34:03 -0500The latest news on Kim Jong Un from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-conducted-a-missile-test-the-same-day-a-major-us-south-korean-military-exercise-began-2015-3North Korea conducted a missile test the same day a major US-South Korean military exercise beganhttp://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-conducted-a-missile-test-the-same-day-a-major-us-south-korean-military-exercise-began-2015-3
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 14:08:56 -0500Victor Cha & Katrin Katz
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54f5fe7269bedd2a3fd23761-1200-924/north-korea-missile-launch-4.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korea missile launch"></p><p>On March 2 between 6:31 a.m. to 6:41 a.m. (local time in South Korea) North Korea fired two missiles into the East Sea from the western port city of Nampo.</p>
<p>According to the South Korean ministry of national defense, the missiles are presumed to be Scud-C because of their range, which was estimated to be 490 kilometers (304 miles).</p>
<p>The missile tests came as the United States and South Korea began their annual Key Resolve (March 2 - 13) and Foal Eagle (March 2 - April 24) military exercises on the same day.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for General Staff of the Korean People's Army (North Korea) had issued a statement threatening "merciless strikes" against the United States and South Korea for conducting their military exercises, which they see as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.</p>
<p>Such provocative words were also voiced just a day ago by Kim Jong-un himself, where he instructed North Korean troops to be "fully prepared for war" and be ready to tear the "Stars and Stripes" to pieces during a visit to a Korean War museum.</p>
<p><strong>Q: What are these annual US-ROK exercises?</strong></p>
<p>Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are annual joint military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea on the Korean peninsula each spring.</p>
<p>Key Resolve is a table-top exercise simulating communication, command, and control drills, and lasts a little over one week.</p>
<p>Foal Eagle consists of field training that combines air, land, and sea exercises involving 12,500 US troops and over 200,000 ROK troops. These exercises are defensive in nature.</p>
<p><strong>Q2: Is the North Korean missile test unusual in the face of recent diplomatic overtures to Russia and to South Korea?</strong></p>
<p>No. It is not unusual for North Korea to mix provocations and diplomacy in order to maximize its bargaining leverage.</p>
<p>North Korea offered to implement a nuclear freeze in return for suspension of exercises last month, which the State Department rejected on the grounds that US-ROK military exercises were lawful while the North’s nuclear program was not.</p>
<p>Today's missile tests are the third this year by North Korea. Last month it had test fired a new "cutting-edge" anti-ship missile on February 7, and had also fired 5 short-range-missiles (which flew 200 km) a day later into the East Sea from the western port city of Wonsan.<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54f5ff6d6da8112c22df0cf4-800-968/north korea short range missile map.png" border="0" alt="North Korea short range missile map" style="color: #000000;"></p>
<p><strong>Q3: Should we expect to see an escalation of tensions during the span of these exercises (concluding at the end of April)?</strong></p>
<p>It is hard to say. CSIS Korea Chair research finds a correlation between the state of US-DPRK diplomatic relations prior to the exercises and the degree to which there is escalation tension prompted by the exercises. The correlation goes back to 2006 (with a couple of exceptions).</p>
<p>There are two problems under Kim Jong-un’s rule. First, we have a sample size of only two years (2013 and 2014). Second, the data for 2015 does not offer a clear projection. In 2013, generally poor US-DPRK relations in January-March presaged heightened tensions as a result of the exercises (e.g., Kim’s threatening nuclear strikes against US cities).</p>
<p>In 2014, a neutral US-DPRK relationship in January-March meant less tension during the exercises. 2015 has seen President Obama’s imposition of sanctions after the Sony hack, but also the upping of inter-Korean humanitarian assistance and efforts at US-DPRK diplomacy, so the impact on exercises is unclear.</p>
<p><em>Victor Cha is a senior adviser and holds the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. Katrin Katz is an adjunct fellow with the CSIS Korea Chair.</em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-last-nuclear-test-had-a-fireball-the-width-of-4-manhattan-blocks-2015-2" >North Korea's last nuclear test had a fireball the width of four Manhattan blocks</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-conducted-a-missile-test-the-same-day-a-major-us-south-korean-military-exercise-began-2015-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/odd-facts-about-north-korea-2014-12">11 Mind-Blowing Facts About North Korea</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-steps-up-verbal-threats-ahead-of-us-south-korea-military-drills-2015-2North Korea steps up threats against the US: 'Nuclear weapons are not a monopoly' of Americahttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-steps-up-verbal-threats-ahead-of-us-south-korea-military-drills-2015-2
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 05:42:00 -0500
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54f03ca75afbd3df678b4567-450-300/north-korea-steps-up-verbal-threats-ahead-of-us-south-korea-military-drills.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang February 23, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA"></p><p>SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea ramped up its threatening language against the United States on Friday, days before the start of annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that often trigger an angry response from Pyongyang.</p>
<p>North Korea regularly protests the annual exercises, which it calls a rehearsal for war, and has recently stepped up its own air, sea and ground military exercises, amid a period of increased tension between the rival Koreas.</p>
<p>"The DPRK will wage a merciless sacred war against the U.S. now that the latter has chosen confrontation," the country's official KCNA news agency said, quoting from an article in the ruling Workers' Party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmum.</p>
<p>DPRK is short for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.</p>
<p>"Nuclear weapons are not a monopoly of the U.S.," the article said. "The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks its mainland is safe."</p>
<p>North Korea frequently makes such threats against the United States and South Korea, which said on Tuesday the two would begin eight weeks of joint military drills from March 2.</p>
<p>On Friday it said the United States was "much upset by the fact that there may be a sign of detente on the Korean peninsula, thanks to the DPRK's initiative and efforts to achieve peace this year".</p>
<p>However, overtures for dialogue by both Koreas in recent months have stalled, with Pyongyang recently describing inter-Korean relations as "inching close to a catastrophe."</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-steps-up-verbal-threats-ahead-of-us-south-korea-military-drills-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-has-a-hilariously-terrible-new-haircut-2015-2Kim Jong Un has a hilariously terrible new haircuthttp://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-has-a-hilariously-terrible-new-haircut-2015-2
Fri, 20 Feb 2015 05:17:00 -0500Mike Bird
<p>North Korean leader Kim Jong Un just got an absolutely abysmal haircut, along with some ludicrously plucked eyebrows.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He was pictured at a meeting of the&nbsp;Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54e709e4dd0895dd288b4664-1061-796/kim-jong-un-haircut-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Kim Jong Un haircut" style="color: #000000;"></p>
<p>There's a bit of an emperor's new clothes dilemma here. When you preside over the world's most repressive autocracy and a terrifying system of murderous gulags, you are going to struggle getting genuine advice on your hair.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no one in the world who thinks that this look works, but doubtless nobody has told Kim that.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54e709e4dd0895dd288b4663-1200-924/kim-jong-un-haircut.jpg" border="0" alt="Kim Jong Un haircut"></p>
<p>Opinion in the Business Insider offices is split. Jim Edwards thinks Kim now looks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Nomi">Klaus Nomi</a>, while Tomas Hirst thinks he looks <a href="https://twitter.com/tomashirstecon/status/568710058101608449">like the ball of a Dyson rollerball hoover</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>I went with felt-tip pen, due to the slightly oily and brush-like nature of the new cut.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-has-a-hilariously-terrible-new-haircut-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-facts-putin-world-controversy-2015-1">11 Facts That Show How Different Russia Is From The Rest Of The World</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/new-kim-jong-un-golf-game-makes-it-impossible-to-get-anything-but-a-hole-in-one-2015-2New Kim Jong Un golf game makes it impossible to get anything but a hole in onehttp://www.businessinsider.com/new-kim-jong-un-golf-game-makes-it-impossible-to-get-anything-but-a-hole-in-one-2015-2
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 09:01:00 -0500Cristina Silva
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54de036a6bb3f72b256c717e-635-476/screen shot 2015-02-13 at 8.59.10 am.png" border="0" alt="kim jong un golf"></p><p>Have you ever secretly fantasized about living life as North Korea leader Kim Jong Un?</p>
<p>Well, now you can be Kim, at least in a new video game.</p>
<p>The online game featuring a very overweight Kim and retro arcade graphics makes it impossible not to get a hole-in-one. Play the game&nbsp;<a href="http://freegames.org/kim-jong-golf/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>
<p>"Kim Jong Un" golf invites players to "Step into Kim Jong Un's golfing shoes and play a round of golf as our Glorious Leader.</p>
<p>His father, Kim Jong Il, is famous for getting a hole-in-one on every hole when he used to play.</p>
<p>Do you have the skill required to keep up the family tradition? This is a realistic simulation of what it is like to play golf as a Glorious Leader," according to its website.</p>
<p><strong>This is basically the entire game:</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54de023969beddb236aeaf70/golf.gif" border="0" alt="golf kim jong un GIF"></p>
<p>The game is apparently a reference to Kim's father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, who famously scored an 11 holes-in-one at an 18-hole golf course the first time he picked up a golf club, according to North Korean state news reports. He allegedly never played again,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/kim-jong-golf-game-makes-5153421" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">the Mirror&nbsp;</a>reported.</p>
<p>The very hefty Kim featured in the game is likely a nod to the 31-year-old leader's affinity for cheese and other calorie-heavy foods.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/10/10/how-the-media-calls-kim-jong-un-fat/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Media reports&nbsp;</a>last year&nbsp;claimed he had become so obese that his ankles fractured under his own weight, requiring corrective surgery, and he is said to be suffering from weight-related health problems such as gout and sciatica.&nbsp;</p>
<p>North Korea released hundreds of new propaganda slogans Thursday ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. They urge North Koreas to "build a fairyland for the people by dint of science" and "let the strong wind of fish farming blow across the country."&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-kim-jong-un-golf-game-makes-it-impossible-to-get-anything-but-a-hole-in-one-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-men-cheat-affair-love-sex-psychotherapist-2015-1">Research Reveals Why Men Cheat, And It's Not What You Think</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-improve-everything-n.-korea-unveils-new-slogans-2015-2North Korea has unveiled a list of 310 ridiculous new political sloganshttp://www.businessinsider.com/afp-improve-everything-n.-korea-unveils-new-slogans-2015-2
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 02:19:00 -0500
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54dc461f5afbd398488b4567-800/afp-improve-everything-n.-korea-unveils-new-slogans.jpg" border="0" alt="A North Korean policeman stands near a wall of propoganda posters in Pyongyang"></p><p>Seoul (AFP) - North Korea unveiled Thursday an exclamation mark peppered list of 310 new political slogans covering every conceivable topic, from the glories of the ruling Kim dynasty and mushroom cultivation to the importance of dependable wives and "offensive" sports.</p>
<p>Oh, and the perennial need to wipe out US imperialist scum.</p>
<p>Political slogans are an intrinsic part of the relentless, daily propaganda formula that North Koreans are weaned on almost from birth.</p>
<p>Those published by the official KCNA news agency on Thursday were drafted by the ruling Worker's Party of Korea (WKP) to mark the 70th anniversaries of its founding and of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule.</p>
<p>Their tone was by turns aggressive, encouraging, comforting and threatening, and the style ranged equally widely from the oddly poetic to the laboriously clunky.</p>
<p>"Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!" was one agriculture-themed offering, followed by:</p>
<p>"Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms!" and "Grow vegetables extensively in greenhouses!"</p>
<p>Prominence was given to a long section of slogans hailing the legacy of late leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, and urging loyalty to the third generation Kim ruler, Kim Jong-Un.</p>
<p>Others covered military strength, the economy, farming, science and technology, education, the arts and sports.</p>
<p>Some like "Play sports games in an offensive way!" underlined the potential pitfalls of translating pithy ideology.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5494717feab8eaf07b46e3c3-1200-924/kim-jong-un-103.jpg" border="0" alt="Kim Jong Un "></p>
<h3>Proof of loyalty</h3>
<p>While much North Korean propaganda seems trapped in an echo chamber of rhetorical overkill and hyperbole, it's tone is perfectly familiar and normal to North Koreans themselves.</p>
<p>The slogans shore up the internally propagandised image of the North as a racially pure nation that must make every effort to protect itself from scheming enemies -- led by the United States -- who are bent on invasion and enslavement.</p>
<p>"We were permanently buried by an avalanche of slogans," said defector Lee Min-Bok who fled North Korea 14 years ago and now lives in the South.</p>
<p>"We had to memorise a lot of them to show our loyalty, but they slowly lost any meaning for anyone, especially after the famine in the 90s," said Lee, 57.</p>
<p>"That greenhouse one has been around for decades. The problem is nobody had any plastic sheets of glass to build them, or fuel to heat them," he added.</p>
<p>Some defector-run websites have run reports of how slogans have become the butt of private jokes among ordinary North Koreans who often amend them to reflect reality.</p>
<p>The 1998 slogan "Though the road ahead may be perilous, let's travel it laughing!" was changed to "Let them laugh as they go, why are they making us come too?"</p>
<p>But the slogans do offer some insights into the thinking and priorities of the North Korean regime, and a few ground realities are recognised.</p>
<p>One of those published Thursday, stressed the urgent need to increase food production, in order to "resolve the food problem of the people and improve their dietary life."</p>
<p>There was a special section devoted to the evil misdeeds of the US "warmongers" and another underlining the absolute necessity of maintaining a powerful military. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>"Should the enemy dare to invade our country, annihilate them to the last man!" read one slogan in the military section, that also exhorted the wives of officers to "become dependable assistants to their husbands!"</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-improve-everything-n.-korea-unveils-new-slogans-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-men-cheat-affair-love-sex-psychotherapist-2015-1">Research Reveals Why Men Cheat, And It's Not What You Think</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-test-fires-new-anti-ship-cruise-missile-2015-2North Korea just test-fired a new anti-ship cruise missilehttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-test-fires-new-anti-ship-cruise-missile-2015-2
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:22:00 -0500James Pearson
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54d183045afbd3627b8b4569-450-300/north-korea-says-it-sees-no-need-to-negotiate-with-gangster-us.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front) watches a drill by the Korean People's Army (KPA) for hitting enemy naval target at undisclosed location in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang January 31, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA "></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has test-fired a new anti-ship cruise missile, images released by state media on Saturday showed, demonstrating the increased capability of the secretive state's outdated navy.</span></p>
<p>The images were released in the lead-up to U.S.-South Korean military exercises this spring. North Korea routinely seeks to raise tensions ahead of the annual drills, although this year Pyongyang has also offered to suspend nuclear testing if Washington calls off the exercises.</p>
<p>The images, which were shown on the front page of the ruling Workers' Party Rodong Sinmun newspaper, showed leader Kim Jong Un observing the missile being fired from a small naval vessel.</p>
<p>State media described it as a "new type of cutting-edge anti-ship rocket" developed by North Korean scientists that will "bring a great change in the navy's defense of territorial waters".</p>
<p>The missile appeared identical in design to a Russian anti-ship missile, the KH-35, which is capable of flying at high speeds meters above the sea.</p>
<p>"It looks exactly like a KH-35," said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies.</p>
<p>Last June, Lewis was the first to spot what appeared to be an unconfirmed glimpse of the missile in a North Korean propaganda video."It is a capable anti-ship cruise missile that puts some teeth in recent statements about developing anti-ship capabilities," said Lewis, referring to North Korean naval exercises last month that state media said were designed to target U.S. aircraft carriers.</p>
<p>North Korea has increased the number of air and naval military drills in recent weeks, ahead of the annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises on the Korean peninsula.</p>
<p>Pyongyang regularly protests over the drills, which it says are a rehearsal for war.</p>
<p>Officials from isolated North Korea, under increased pressure from international sanctions related to its nuclear and missile programs, have made frequent trips to Russia over the past year, where leader Kim Jong Un is scheduled to make his first official state visit this May.</p>
<p>"The design raises a question about whether, when, and under what circumstances, Moscow might have assisted North Korea in the development of the system," Lewis said.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">(Editing by Paul Tait and Simon Cameron-Moore)</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-test-fires-new-anti-ship-cruise-missile-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/flying-car-aeromobil-flies-430-miles-2014-12">This Flying Car Is Real And It Can Fly 430 Miles On A Full Tank</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-pushing-for-more-sanctions-against-north-korea-2015-2The US is pushing for more sanctions against North Koreahttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-pushing-for-more-sanctions-against-north-korea-2015-2
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 05:34:38 -0500Patricia Zengerle
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54bd9b3269bedda37d8b4567-480-/kim-jong-un-north-korea-11.jpg" border="0" alt="kim jong un north korea" width="480"></p><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to broaden sanctions against&nbsp;North Korea&nbsp;by imposing stiffer punishments on foreign companies doing business with&nbsp;Pyongyang, a measure that could impact mostly on Chinese firms.</p>
<p>"In the wake of the state-sponsored cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, the bipartisan legislation targets&nbsp;North Korea's access to the hard currency and other goods that help keep the regime in power," said the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Republican Representative&nbsp;Ed Royce.</p>
<p>"Additionally, it presses the Administration to use all available tools to impose sanctions against&nbsp;North Korea&nbsp;and on countries and companies that assist&nbsp;North Korea&nbsp;in bolstering its nuclear weapons program," Royce, the&nbsp;House Foreign Affairs Committee&nbsp;chairman, said in a statement.</p>
<p>The vast majority of&nbsp;North Korea's business dealings are with neighboring&nbsp;China, which bought 90 percent of the isolated country's exports in 2013, according to data compiled by&nbsp;South Korea's International Trade Association.</p>
<p>The bill responds to concern in&nbsp;Congress&nbsp;about last year's cyber attack on Sony Pictures, which was blamed on Pyongyang, as well as what lawmakers see as the international failure to rein in the reclusive state's nuclear weapons program.</p>
<p>The measure is co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, including the leaders of the&nbsp;House Foreign Affairs Committee, Royce, and Democrat&nbsp;Eliot Engel.</p>
<p>A similar bill is likely in the U.S. Senate. It is expected to enjoy strong bipartisan support in both chambers.</p>
<p>The bill would authorize U.S. officials to freeze assets held in the&nbsp;United States&nbsp;of those found to have direct ties to illicit North Korean activities like its nuclear program, as well as those that do business with&nbsp;North Korea, providing its government with hard currency.</p>
<p>It would also target banks that facilitate North Korean proliferation, smuggling, money laundering, and human rights abuses, and target people who helped in the cyber attacks against the&nbsp;United States, Royce said.</p>
<p>A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman,&nbsp;Hong Lei, said frequent sanctions would not help resolve the North Korean issue.</p>
<p>Gareth Johnson, owner of&nbsp;China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which takes tourists into&nbsp;North Korea, criticized the bill.</p>
<p>"Whilst we personally do not hold any accounts in the U.S., this is obviously not a great move ... (This) will just create a siege mentality when those of us involved in the country are trying to open things further."<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<h3>SANCTIONS NOT SO STRONG - LAWYER</h3>
<p>North Korea&nbsp;is already heavily sanctioned by the&nbsp;United States&nbsp;and&nbsp;United Nations&nbsp;for its arms programs and nuclear tests. President&nbsp;Barack Obama&nbsp;imposed new sanctions last year aimed at cutting the country's remaining links to the international financial system.</p>
<p>"Contrary to a common misconception, current U.S. sanctions against&nbsp;North Korea&nbsp;are weaker than our sanctions against&nbsp;Belarus&nbsp;and&nbsp;Zimbabwe," said&nbsp;Joshua Stanton, a Washington D.C. attorney and blogger who assisted with the drafting of the legislation.</p>
<p>"Other than some pin-prick, whack-a-mole sanctions against low and mid-level arms dealers and just one major North Korean bank, their strength is mostly a figment of the academic imagination."</p>
<p>Critics view the flow of hard currency into&nbsp;North Korea&nbsp;as potentially funding&nbsp;North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it was not clear to what extent companies engaged in legal businesses would be affected by the proposed measures.</p>
<p>Such connections are difficult to track in&nbsp;China, and separating legal business from illicit can be even harder.</p>
<p>Bank of&nbsp;China,&nbsp;China's fourth biggest bank, said in May 2013 that it had shut the account of&nbsp;North Korea's main foreign exchange bank, Foreign Trade Bank, in the wake of international pressure to punish&nbsp;Pyongyang&nbsp;over its nuclear and missile programs.</p>
<p>The bill is intended to push the&nbsp;Obama administration, which contends the president already has sufficient authority to punish&nbsp;Pyongyang.</p>
<p>Sony said on Thursday that&nbsp;Amy Pascal&nbsp;would step down as co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment after the hackers, angry about a movie she championed mocking&nbsp;North Korea's leader, exposed a raft of embarrassing emails between her and other Hollywood figures.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by James Pearson and Ju-min Park in SEOUL and Michael Martina in SHANGHAI; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Sandra Maler, Grant McCool and Dean Yates)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-pushing-for-more-sanctions-against-north-korea-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/flying-car-aeromobil-flies-430-miles-2014-12">This Flying Car Is Real And It Can Fly 430 Miles On A Full Tank</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-says-it-sees-no-need-to-negotiate-with-gangster-us-2015-2North Korea says it sees no need to negotiate with 'gangster' U.S.http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-says-it-sees-no-need-to-negotiate-with-gangster-us-2015-2
Tue, 03 Feb 2015 23:27:00 -0500Jack Kim
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54d183045afbd3627b8b4569-450-300/north-korea-says-it-sees-no-need-to-negotiate-with-gangster-us.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front) watches a drill by the Korean People's Army (KPA) for hitting enemy naval target at undisclosed location in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang January 31, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA "></p><p>SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Wednesday it sees no more need to negotiate with the United States, accusing Washington of plotting to "bring down" its regime, and threatened to strike back using all its military resources.</p>
<p>North Korea routinely seeks to raise tensions ahead of annual joint military drills by U.S. and South Korean forces that usually begin in March. This year, Pyongyang has offered to suspend nuclear testing if Washington calls off the exercises.</p>
<p>However, North Korea's National Defence Commission said on Wednesday the United States was inching close to "igniting a war of aggression" and that the Obama administration was working to trigger its collapse.</p>
<p>The commission, Pyongyang's supreme leadership body, is headed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.</p>
<p>"Since the gangster-like U.S. imperialists are blaring that they will "bring down" the DPRK ... the army and people of the DPRK cannot but officially notify the Obama administration of the USA that the DPRK has neither need nor willingness to sit at the negotiating table with the U.S. any longer," it said.</p>
<p>Using the North's official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), it said Pyongyang had decided "to write the last page of ... U.S. history".</p>
<p>"(Smaller), precision and diversified nuclear striking means and ground, naval, underwater, air and cyber warfare means will be used," the commission said in the statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.</p>
<p>U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview carried on YouTube on Jan. 22 the Internet would inevitably penetrate even a country as reclusive and closed as North Korea and bring about change. "Over time you will see a regime like this collapse," Obama said.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54d19ed9eab8ea6b6ce80071-1200-924/obama-477.jpg" border="0" alt="obama"></p>
<p>The angry response by North Korea's defense commission came after its foreign ministry said on Sunday Washington had rejected its invitation for the top U.S. nuclear envoy handling North Korea to visit for talks.</p>
<p>Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said in Beijing he was open for talks with the North Koreans. However, the State Department denied there was any plan for talks or change in its position that Pyongyang must first show it was serious about ending its nuclear ambitions.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">(Editing by Paul Tait)</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-says-it-sees-no-need-to-negotiate-with-gangster-us-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/flying-car-aeromobil-flies-430-miles-2014-12">This Flying Car Is Real And It Can Fly 430 Miles On A Full Tank</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-wants-military-drills-with-north-korea-2015-2Russia has announced plans for joint military drills with North Koreahttp://www.businessinsider.com/russia-wants-military-drills-with-north-korea-2015-2
Tue, 03 Feb 2015 12:44:00 -0500Jeremy Bender
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54a1bef46bb3f7cc1d2f353e-1200-924/putin-military-russia.jpg" border="0" alt="putin military russia"></p><p>A top Russian military official has stated that Moscow plans on conducting joint military exercises with North Korea, a number of media outlets have reported.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“We are planning an expansion of the communication lines of our military central command," Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, said at a meeting attended by the heads of all of Russia's armed forces branches, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/russia-plans-joint-military-drills-north-korea-and-cuba-303836">according to Newsweek</a>. "We are entering preliminary negotiations with the armed forces of Brazil, Vietnam, Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”</p>
<p>If negotiations are successful, the military drills will include naval and air force exercises as well as joint drills between ground troops from Russia and North Korea.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Although military exercises involving both North Korea and Russia could increase tensions along the Korean peninsula — where the US routinely conducts joint military drills with South Korea — any military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang will likely be superficial.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Russia is well-aware of the detrimental influence North Korea could have if Russia lets it beef up its military capacities — nuclear and rocket technologies, a possible connection with al-Qaeda, etc.,” South Korean expert Yune Hyeong-jin <a href="http://www.nknews.org/2015/02/russia-to-conduct-joint-military-drill-with-north/">told</a>&nbsp;NK News.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">“Russia doesn’t seem to be interested in modernizing North Korean weaponry, which can make the North more dangerous.”</span></p>
<p>US experts do not find possibility of any future Russian-North Korean partnership to be particularly threatening either.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“The Russian military may be reaching out to other countries as part of Moscow’s effort to show that it is not isolated, despite the very negative international reaction to Russian aggression against Ukraine,” former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/russia-plans-joint-military-drills-north-korea-and-cuba-303836">told</a> Newsweek.&nbsp;</p>
<p>North Korea and Russia had previously agreed to stage their first <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/article/20110913/DEFSECT04/109130314/Russia-N-Korea-Hold-Joint-Military-Exercises">joint military exercise</a> in 2011. The exercise <a href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/70/707019_dprk-russia-japan-russia-north-korea-may-hold-ship-search.html">focused</a> on search and rescue operations and humanitarian missions, as opposed to actual combat training.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Relations between the two countries have been on the upswing recently. Due to the sanctions placed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Moscow has sought to <a href="http://www.dw.de/north-korea-builds-closer-ties-with-fellow-outcast-russia/a-18231690">backstop&nbsp;its flagging economy</a> by turning east towards China and North Korea.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-russia-northkorea-kim-idUSKBN0L107320150128">confirmed</a> that he will attend Russian celebrations marking the end of World War II in May. It will be Kim's first foreign visit since coming to power in 2011.&nbsp;</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-north-korea-business-council-2015-1" >Russia found a new business friend</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-wants-military-drills-with-north-korea-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-may-be-trying-to-restart-nuclear-reactor-us-think-tank-2015-1North Korea May Be Trying To Restart A Nuclear Reactorhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-may-be-trying-to-restart-nuclear-reactor-us-think-tank-2015-1
Wed, 28 Jan 2015 20:41:00 -0500David Brunnstrom
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54c98f406bb3f7367d621f98-1200-924/north-korea-82.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korea"></p><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea may be trying to restart a nuclear reactor that can yield plutonium for atomic bombs, a U.S. security think tank said on Wednesday, citing new satellite imagery.</p>
<p>An analysis issued by 38 North, a North Korea monitoring project at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, said it was too early to reach a definitive explanation for signs of activity at the Yongbyon reactor, including steam and indications that snow had melted on the reactor roof.</p>
<p>"One possibility is that the North Koreans are in the early stages of an effort to restart the reactor after an almost five-month hiatus in operations," it said, basing its observations on commercial satellite images from Dec. 24 to Jan. 11.</p>
<p>"However, since the facility has been recently observed over a period of only a few weeks, it remains too soon to reach a definitive conclusion on this and also on whether that effort is moving forward or encountering problems."</p>
<p>It said there were clear differences between the latest 2014-1015 imagery and that from more than a year earlier when the reactor was known to have been operating.</p>
<p>Imagery from December 2013 showed snow had melted off the roofs of all the buildings related to the reactor and foam could be seen at the end of the turbine building’s steam and wastewater drainpipe. It said the absence of the foam in recent images could be related to the installation of new piping.</p>
<p>North Korea announced in April 2013 that it would revive the aged five-megawatt research reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, saying it was seeking a deterrent capacity, a move condemned by members states of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.</p>
<p>The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security think tank said last year that satellite imagery from late August and late September 2014 indicated the reactor may have been partially or completely shut down, while images from September 2013 until June last year had shown it was operating.</p>
<p>It said the purpose of the shutdown may have been for it to partially refuel the reactor's core, or for maintenance or renovation.</p>
<p>North Korea is under an array of international sanctions for repeated nuclear bomb and ballistic missile tests.</p>
<p>It said this month it was willing to suspend nuclear tests if the United States called off annual military drills with South Korea. Washington rejected the proposal as a veiled threat.</p>
<p>(Editing by Bernard Orr)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-may-be-trying-to-restart-nuclear-reactor-us-think-tank-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-moscow-says-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-confirms-russia-visit-yonhap-2015-1Kim Jong Un Is Heading To Russiahttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-moscow-says-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-confirms-russia-visit-yonhap-2015-1
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 23:05:00 -0500Jack Kim
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54afb3895afbd3cd208b4567-450-300/north-korea-rejects-call-from-souths-parliament-for-talks.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a New Year's address in this January 1, 2015 photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. REUTERS/KCNA "></p><p>SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed his attendance at Russia's celebrations in May marking the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday quoting a Kremlin spokesman.</p>
<p>The trip, if it takes place, would be Kim's first foreign visit since taking power in the reclusive state in 2011, succeeding his father Kim Jong Il who died suddenly, and is likely to come before he visits China, the North's main ally.</p>
<p>"About 20 state leaders have confirmed their attendance, and the North Korean leader is among them," Yonhap quoted the office of Kremlin spokesman as saying in response to its written question to President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.</p>
<p>The North and Russia have been looking to boost ties, as political relations chilled with China after Kim took over and defied international warnings and U.N. sanctions to conduct a third nuclear test in 2013.</p>
<p>Earlier in January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said North Korea has sent a positive signal after Putin invited its leader Kim to the victory celebrations. [ID:nL6N0V02Q1]</p>
<p>Russia marks the victory anniversary every year on May 9.</p>
<p>Kim's father, Kim Jong Il was invited to the 60th anniversary celebrations in 2005 but did not attend, Yonhap said.</p>
<p>(Editing by Michael Perry)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-moscow-says-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-confirms-russia-visit-yonhap-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/a-north-korean-gulag-survivor-admits-he-lied-in-his-best-selling-book-2015-1A North Korean Gulag Survivor Admits He Lied In His Best-Selling Bookhttp://www.businessinsider.com/a-north-korean-gulag-survivor-admits-he-lied-in-his-best-selling-book-2015-1
Sun, 18 Jan 2015 06:23:29 -0500Jack Kim and Sohee Kim
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54bb972eecad04641de364cf-1200-858/shin_dong-hyuk.jpg" border="0" alt="Shin Dong Hyuk"></p><p>A North Korean defector, whose dramatic escape from a brutal prison camp was the subject of a bestselling book, has changed key parts of his story and on Sunday apologised for misleading people.</p>
<p>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B005GSZZ1A" target="_blank">Escape from Camp 14</a>", written by former&nbsp;Washington Post&nbsp;journalist&nbsp;Blaine Harden, brought&nbsp;Shin Dong-hyuk international fame.</p>
<p>Shin, one of the best-known defectors from reclusive&nbsp;North Korea, said on his Facebook page he had tried to hide parts of his past.</p>
<p>"To those who have supported me, trusted me and believed in me all this time, I am so very grateful and at the same time so very sorry to each and every single one of you," Shin said.</p>
<p>He also said he may end his campaign to shut down prison camps in&nbsp;North Korea, which had been instrumental in bringing a U.N. resolution urging the referral of the country to an international tribunal.</p>
<p>Harden, whose book "shines through" with integrity, according to a fellow journalist's comment on its cover, said he had been in contact with Shin.</p>
<p>"I contacted Shin, pressing him to detail the changes and explain why he had misled me," Harden wrote on his website, adding he had given the information to&nbsp;the Washington Post, for which he originally wrote a story about Shin in 2008.</p>
<p>Neither Harden nor Shin gave details about the changes.</p>
<p>Shin had said in the book he was tortured when he was 13 after a failed attempt to flee Camp 14 where he was born in until a dramatic escape in 2005, when he climbed over the body of a fellow inmate who died on an electrified fence.</p>
<p>He said he informed a prison guard of a plan by his mother and brother to escape Camp 14 and both were executed.</p>
<p>According to&nbsp;the Washington Post, Shin told Harden that he was moved from Camp 14 to a different prison camp, Camp 18, and it was there that he betrayed his mother and brother.</p>
<p>He also told Harden that he had escaped the prison and fled to&nbsp;China&nbsp;where he was caught and sent back to the North, the newspaper said. In his original account, he said he had lived all his life in Camp 14 until his escape.</p>
<p>The Washington Post&nbsp;cited Harden as saying he would seek to correct the book but that he was convinced key elements were correct.</p>
<p>Shin, who has lived in&nbsp;South Korea, could not be reached for comment. A recorded message showed he has cancelled his mobile phone subscription.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>(Reporting by Jack Kim and Sohee Kim; Editing by Nick Macfie)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-north-korean-gulag-survivor-admits-he-lied-in-his-best-selling-book-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-may-visit-moscow-2015-1Kim Jong-Un May Have Just Accepted Putin's Invitation To Visit Moscowhttp://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-may-visit-moscow-2015-1
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 13:30:26 -0500Jeremy Bender
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/549426c3ecad04ef4346e3c7-1200-924/kim-jong-un-100.jpg" border="0" alt="Kim Jong Un "></p><p>Kim Jong-Un may take his first ever foreign visit as Supreme Leader of North Korea, NK News <a href="http://www.nknews.org/2015/01/kim-jong-un-to-attend-victory-day-event-in-moscow-s-korean-media/">reports</a> citing a South Korean diplomatic source that spoke to the Yonhap News Agency.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-russia-invites-north-korean-leader-to-moscow-for-may-visit-2014-12">invited</a> Kim in December to Moscow next May to participate in the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. If Kim does accept Putin's invitation, it will be his first foreign visit and also his first time meeting a foreign head of state since becoming North Korea's Supreme Leader in 2011.</p>
<p>If Kim attends the ceremonies, the leader will be in a position to meet several foreign heads of state. Other leaders <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/kim-jong-un-snubs-china-and-accepts-putins-invite-moscow-298974">invited</a> to the ceremony include US President Barack Obama and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, both of whom have refused to attend. &nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Both North Korea and Russia are sanctioned by much of Europe and the United States, and relations between the two are warming. “Even if Pyongyang ultimately turns the invitation down politely, now would not be the time to do so as things are going well politically on that front at the moment,” North Korea watcher Chris Green </span><a href="http://www.nknews.org/2015/01/kim-jong-un-to-attend-victory-day-event-in-moscow-s-korean-media/">told</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> NK News.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Russia and North Korea are currently in the process of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-russia-invites-north-korean-leader-to-moscow-for-may-visit-2014-12">improving ties</a>, which had cooled considerably since the fall of the Soviet Union. Moscow is seeking Pyongyang's approval to build a gas pipeline through North Korea to customers in South Korea.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Likewise, Pyongyang is seeking support from Russia, a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council, to shield the country against a referral to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">North Korea, whose hugely restrictive economic and social policies <a href="http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1737780,00.html">triggered a catastrophic famine in the 1990s</a>, is also seeking to <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/north-korea-seeks-to-rent-russian-farmland/511281.html">rent and farm</a> 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in Russia.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The developing relationship between North Korea and Russia is likely forged out of necessity. China, North Korea's principal ally, has started&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-state-run-media-has-started-attacking-north-korea-2014-10">ridiculing</a>&nbsp;an ever-recalcitrant&nbsp;Pyongyang through its state-run media. Pyongyang is also deeply isolated in the aftermath of the Sony hacks, which the US has unequivocally blamed on North Korea.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Russia is also under western sanctions in the aftermath of its annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. By befriending North Korea and gaining increased leverage in the Korean peninsula, Russia stands to gain even more influence in a region that's already thorny for the US and in spite of western attempts to keep the country diplomatically and economically isolated.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">As of Jan. 13, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang <a href="http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150113/1016844161.html">could not confirm</a> that Kim would visit Moscow.&nbsp;</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-north-korea-may-still-be-selling-weapons-to-a-us-ally-2015-1" >Here's why North Korea may still be sending weapons to a US ally</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-may-visit-moscow-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-equipped-two-submarines-with-ballistic-missile-tubes-2015-1North Korea May Have Equipped Two Submarines With Ballistic Missile Launch Tubes http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-equipped-two-submarines-with-ballistic-missile-tubes-2015-1
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:20:00 -0500Mike Hoffman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/53a08f35ecad048325de7f9b-1200-800/rtr3u1xl.jpg" border="0" alt="kim jong un submarine North Korea"></p><p>Evidence has appeared in recent commercial imagery that a new North Korean submarine has up to two vertical launch missile submarines.</p>
<p>A website run by the&nbsp;<a href="http://38north.org/2015/01/jbermudez010815/">US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies called 38 North</a>&nbsp;posted the imagery with tags showing how the conning tower of a new North Korean submarine can house 1–2 ballistic or cruise missile tubes.</p>
<p>The submarine was seen at the&nbsp;Sinpo South Shipyard in North Korea, which has seen significant infrastructural improvement recently.<span id="more-24395"></span></p>
<p>Officials at the US Korea Institute at SAIS speculated that&nbsp;a “shorter naval version of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile, a Nodong medium-range ballistic missile, or naval versions of the solid-fuelled KN-02 short-range ballistic missile” could be the missile used aboard the submarine.</p>
<p>Obviously, a ballistic missile submarine would pose a new risk to South Korea. However, the analysts at Johns Hopkins pointed out that the imagery doesn’t mean the North Koreans are necessarily close to completing the project.</p>
<p>Much like North Koreas ICBM program, the technology is still lacking north of the 38th parallel.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-strange-juggling-act-is-becoming-ever-more-perilous-2015-1" >North Korea's strange juggling act is becoming even more perilous</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-equipped-two-submarines-with-ballistic-missile-tubes-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-strange-juggling-act-is-becoming-ever-more-perilous-2015-1North Korea's Strange Juggling Act Is Becoming Ever More Perilous http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-strange-juggling-act-is-becoming-ever-more-perilous-2015-1
Sat, 10 Jan 2015 20:48:24 -0500
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/549ec1656bb3f7c330bbe2a9-1200-800/rtr4j60k.jpg" border="0" alt="Kimg Jong Un">On his birthday on January 8th, when he may have turned 32, North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Un, could bask in the cowed admiration of his benighted people. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Abroad, few were wishing him many happy returns. North Korea's old nemesis, America, has tightened sanctions against it. Even China, the Kim dynasty's longtime protector, is witnessing a public debate about whether to abandon its awkward ally. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">And perhaps most galling of all, millions of people around the world have downloaded "The Interview", a satirical film in which Mr Kim is mocked, sobs pathetically on live television and suffers the indignity of his head dissolving into flames.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Even the deadly earnest New Year's Day speech on television by the real Mr Kim provoked titters in cyberspace, where there was more interest in his latest grooming feature (a drastic curtailment of his eyebrows) than in his words.</span></p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5495f20f69bedd7f300a7d45-1200-858/ap810080541009.jpg" border="0" alt="the interview sony">Just because Mr Kim runs a paranoid, delusional despotism, does not mean that the outside world is not out to get him. And of late he has had particular reasons to worry. As Mr Kim's government portrays them, the new American sanctions, directed at North Korea's illicit arms-export business, are merely intended to add weight to a spurious charge: that the regime ordered the hacking of Sony Pictures' computer systems and the threats of violence should it distribute "The Interview".</p>
<p>Propagandists have even been able to cite Western cyber-security experts, who cast doubt on North Korea's guilt. But even if North Korea was, as the Americans insist, the source of the cyber-attacks, it would have felt it was acting in self-defence.</p>
<p>The plot of "The Interview", involving an attempt to assassinate Mr Kim, must seem less than fanciful to his advisers. Among a rarefied elite with access to the internet, they will have watched the YouTube video of a retired American general, John Macdonald, with ten years' service on the peninsula, ruminating at a symposium about geopolitical strategy last year on the failure of American North Korean policy. He listed the assassination of Kim Jong Un as a policy to have in your "kitbag".</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/547fd42b69beddbc148f5b33-774-430/screen shot 2014-12-03 at 10.26.10 pm.png" border="0" alt="interview"></p>
<p>"I'm only presenting options," he protested. But he expressed an exasperation that is shared by many: "A nation...with one of the most failed economies in the world, run by a crime family, is a major irritant between two of the most powerful nations in the world. We've got to do something about that."</p>
<p>It is not just soldiers who think like this. Mr Kim's circle will also have read last month's piece in the Wall Street Journal by Richard Haass, a former senior diplomat and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank. Mr Haass cited the danger North Korea poses as a cyber-vandal, an unauthorised nuclear power, a possessor of a large conventional military force and a onetime sponsor of terrorism.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He concluded: "Only one approach is commensurate with the challenge--ending North Korea's existence as an independent entity and reunifying the Korean peninsula." Others disagree with Mr Haass's prescription, and neither he nor Mr Macdonald represents official American policy--which is still one of "strategic patience", hoping to avoid crisis and confrontation and that economic and political isolation will eventually force North Korea into talks on its nuclear programme. But to paranoid totalitarians, that such ideas are freely aired must seem menacing enough.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5119d3f56bb3f7c730000030-1200-706/ap792652498030.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korea nuclear test"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Worse still is the obvious Chinese huffiness towards Mr Kim. The Chinese government never really got on with his father, Kim Jong Il. But at least he did not execute China's main interlocutor, as Kim Jong Un did, when in December 2013 he disposed of his mentor and uncle by marriage, Jang Song Taek.</span></span></p>
<p>In office, the younger Kim has never been invited to China. But Park Geun-hye, South Korea's president, is welcome there and gets on famously with China's leader, Xi Jinping. And the value of the North Korean alliance is being publicly questioned in China. Last month a retired general, Wang Hongguang, wrote in Global Times, a Communist Party daily, that, in the future, China need not clean up North Korea's "mess". And, he added, "if an administration is not supported by the people, collapse is just a matter of time."</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Again, that is just one Chinese view. Other theorists in China argue that, though cussedly unmalleable, an independent North Korea remains an essential buffer between China and the American-garrisoned South. China is stuck with it. Perversely, an incident last month in which a North Korean soldier attempting to defect crossed the Chinese border and killed four people in the course of a burglary, may have strengthened this conservative Chinese view of North Korea: just think what might happen if the regime were allowed to collapse and millions were fleeing!</span></p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5493feaeeab8ea740b46e3c3-1200-858/rtr30r9d.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korea">Mr Kim has few foreign friends. Russia's Vladimir Putin presumably knows how he feels and seems sympathetic. Russia keeps supplying oil, and Mr Kim has an invitation to make his first foreign trip as leader to Moscow in May. But Russia is probably more interested in using North Korea to demonstrate its ability to complicate life for America and its allies than in providing serious financial or other assistance.</p>
<h3>Plucked To The Bone</h3>
<p>So in his small-eyebrowed speech, Mr Kim was, by past standards, positively emollient, responding obliquely but positively to a South Korean offer of talks. He even suggested the possibility of a summit with Ms Park, though his government had once declared her to be "a despicable prostitute selling off the nation."</p>
<p>Yet a summit still seems unlikely. North Korea's survival has relied on playing America, China, Japan, the South and sometimes Russia off against one another. But for now the South, despite this week resuming modest humanitarian aid, is not ready to break ranks.</p>
<p>More broadly, the comforting calculation for North Korea's regime--that, painful though its existence is to its people and the outside world, its collapse would be worse--may not hold for ever in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.</p>
<p>Click <a href="http://www.store.eiu.com">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-strange-juggling-act-is-becoming-ever-more-perilous-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-mocks-us-north-korea-the-interview-2015-1Jon Stewart Mocks The US Response To North Korea After 'The Interview' Fiascohttp://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-mocks-us-north-korea-the-interview-2015-1
Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:50:00 -0500Aly Weisman
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54ac1ac369bedde9170a7cf2-1200-706/screen%20shot%202015-01-06%20at%2012.10.59%20pm.png" border="0" alt="Jon Stewart the interview"></p><p>After a holiday break, Jon Stewart returned to "The Daily Show" Monday night to tackle the recent controversy surrounding "The Interview."</p>
<p>"Seth Rogen and James Franco's film 'The Interview' opened to one particularly nasty review," Stewart explained, referring to the Sony hackers who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sony-cyber-hack-timeline-2014-12" target="_blank">threatened to attack cinemas showing the film</a>. It is widely believed that the hackers operated under the direction of the North Korean government. </p>
<p>Stewart continued: <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"Listen, North Korea, you can mess with a lot of things: our postal system, our water supply, but when you start f---ing with out holiday releases — the precious cinematic delights we partake in to avoid having to talk to our families — you’ve stepped on a landmine."</span></p>
<p>The show then <span>ran news clips about the sanctions the US slapped on North Korea in response.</span></p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54ac184a69beddcc0b0a7cf5-1200-706/screen%20shot%202015-01-06%20at%2012.14.11%20pm.png" border="0" alt="north korea news"></p>
<p><span>"I just want to interrupt very quickly," Stewart chimed in. "So in all the sanctions we’ve had on North Korea, North Korea’s KGB and their arms dealers were still allowed to use our banking system? Not that, on average, they didn’t make our banking system less evil."</span></p>
<p><span>Following the Sony hack, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">President Obama put North Korea back on the United States' list of states that sponsor terrorism. In response, Stewart joked: "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You made the list, buddy. That goes on your permanent record. Good luck, Kim Jong Un, getting into Oberlin's premed program now."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Stewart continued, "If we're sending a message to North Korea a message about this Sony hack, we have to make Kim Jong Un quake in his very tiny but expensive boots."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54ac1ac36da8112266598277-1200-706/screen%20shot%202015-01-06%20at%2012.00.35%20pm.png" border="0" alt="Jon Stewart north korea Kim Jong-un"></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"But I guess our anger is no surprise. These hackers violated our privacy</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">They read our emails. What kind of a country does that?" Stewart said sarcastically before showing news clips about Edward Snowden's revelation that the National Security Agency can read emails, chats, and personal conversations.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54ac1ac4ecad0434546e9a2f-1200-706/screen%20shot%202015-01-06%20at%2012.22.35%20pm.png" border="0" alt="NSA news clip" style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"Well at least when we spy on us, we have the decency to not leak <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sony-emails-angelina-jolie-steve-jobs-movie-2014-12" target="_blank">mean sh-- about Angelina Jolie</a>," Stewart concluded. "Monsters!"</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54ac1d726bb3f74f02826095-1024-512/angelina-jolie-jon-stewart.jpg" border="0" alt="angelina jolie jon stewart"></span></span></p>
<p>Watch the full "Daily Show" clip below:</p>
<div style="background-color: #000000; width: 620px;">
<div style="padding: 4px;">
<iframe width="620" height="349" frameborder="0" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:video:thedailyshow.com:21b57131-dea4-4659-885a-9d4ab5dfa6d6"></iframe>
<p style="text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 4px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/">The Daily Show</a></strong><br>Get More: <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a>,<a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos">Daily Show Video Archive</a></p>
</div>
</div><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-phone-call-with-jon-stewart-2014-11#ixzz3O3rRvfge" >Here's What Happened When Steve Jobs Called Jon Stewart After He Made Fun Of Apple On TV</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-mocks-us-north-korea-the-interview-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/glorious-leader-kickstarter-project-raises-17000-2015-1A Project To Build A Satirical Kim Jong Un Video Game Has Raised $17,000http://www.businessinsider.com/glorious-leader-kickstarter-project-raises-17000-2015-1
Fri, 02 Jan 2015 20:02:15 -0500Eugene Kim
<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54a739d469bedd942e8b4569-639-479/screenshot-of-glorious-leader-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Screenshot of &quot;Glorious Leader!&quot;">A plan to build a satirical video game that glorifies North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a WMD-wielding hero has attracted over $17,000 on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/884592321/glorious-leader">Kickstarter.</a>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The game, satirically titled “Glorious Leader!” will let the user play as Kim himself, fighting against US troops and his ultimate foe, President Barack Obama. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The developers have planned multiple stages and missions as well as special features like power-ups and unique weapons. At one point, you'll get to take down Sony, too. It will also let a second player join the game as Dennis Rodman, Kim’s childhood hero. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The game will be developed with 2D, 16-bit graphics, conjuring up memories of popular 90s games like Contra or Metal Slug. Despite its simple graphics, the game’s developer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/19/arts/ap-us-sony-hack-video-game.html">Moneyhorse told AP</a> that Sony was “responsive” to the idea of turning it into a PlayStation game.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The game is planned for release on PC and mobile first. It has raised a little over $17,000, way short of its pledged goal of $55,000. But it still has 12 days to go, so if you’re one of those old-school gamers, you can head over to its <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/884592321/glorious-leader">Kickstarter page</a> and make a donation.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here’s the video of the project:</span></p>
<p class="p2"><iframe width="853" height="480" frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/j8_X-9AIG-c"></iframe></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/glorious-leader-kickstarter-project-raises-17000-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leaders-sister-marries-son-of-senior-official-yonhap-2015-1REPORT: Kim Jong Un's Sister Just Got Marriedhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leaders-sister-marries-son-of-senior-official-yonhap-2015-1
Fri, 02 Jan 2015 07:08:02 -0500
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54a689deecad04640b8b4569-480-/north-korea-kim-yo-jong.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korea Kim Yo Jong" width="480"></p><p>SEOUL (Reuters) - The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has married the son of one of the country's most powerful officials, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.</p>
<p>Kim Yo Jong, who is 27 or 28, was said by state media late last year to have assumed a senior position in the ruling Workers' Party. She is the only other member of the ruling Kim family known to have an official job within the government.</p>
<p>"As far as I know, Kim Yo Jong, deputy director of the Workers' Party, got married to a son of the party secretary Choe Ryong Hae," the South Korean news agency quoted a China-based source as saying.</p>
<p>A second source identified Kim Yo Jong's husband as Choe's second son, Choe Song, Yonhap reported.</p>
<p>The senior Choe is a high-ranking member of the ruling Workers' Party widely seen as a close confidant of Kim, the isolated country's third-generation leader, believed to be in his early 30s.</p>
<p>Kim Yo Jong was seen wearing what appears to be a wedding ring in a photo released by the reclusive North's official KCNA news agency on Friday.</p>
<p>An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry said it could not confirm the report.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Tony Munroe and Ju-min Park; Editing by Nick Macfie)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leaders-sister-marries-son-of-senior-official-yonhap-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-says-hes-open-to-a-high-level-summit-with-south-korea-2015-1Kim Jong Un Says He's Open To A 'High-Level Summit' With South Korea http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-says-hes-open-to-a-high-level-summit-with-south-korea-2015-1
Thu, 01 Jan 2015 11:57:00 -0500Hunter Walker
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54a57b82eab8ea8e5a8b4567-600-/north-korea-kim-jong-un-65.jpg" alt="north korea kim jong un" border="0" width="600"></p><p>North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly suggested <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30647442">he would be open to talks with his country's arch-rival, South Korea,</a> in a New Year's speech that was broadcast on state television Thursday. </p>
<p>"Depending on the mood and circumstances, there is no reason not to hold a high-level summit," he said, according to the BBC. </p>
<p>The BBC said South Korean officials <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30647442">described Kim Jong Un's comment</a> as "meaningful."</p>
<p>"Our government hopes for dialogue between the South and North Korean authorities in the near future without limits on format," South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said, according to the Yonhap news agency.</p>
<p>Ryoo Kihl-jae was also quoted saying he would meet with North Korean officials in any city of their choosing in the two countries. </p>
<p>However, despite expressing interest in potential talks, Kim Jong Un also reportedly blasted drills conducted by South Korea and its ally, the US, in the region.</p>
<p>"In a tense mood of such war-preparatory exercises, trust-based dialogue can't be possible, and North-South relations can't move forward," he said. </p>
<p>North and South Korea have technically been at war since 1953 when the Korean War ended in an armistice. Formal high-level talks between the two countries have not taken place since last February after Kim Jong Un also expressed willingness to work toward unification in his 2014 New Year's address. Those talks led to rare reunions for families that had been separated since the war. </p>
<p>KCNA, a North Korean state news agency, <a href="http://kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm">published that speech on its website this week</a>. According to that transcript, in his 2014 address, Kim Jong Un expressed a desire to "make fresh headway in the national reunification movement." He also said any unification deal must "hold fast to the standpoint of By Our Nation Itself."</p>
<p>A paper published by Young Ho Park, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/events/2014/1/21%20korean%20peninsula%20unification/park%20young%20ho%20paper.pdf">described the concept of "By Our Nation Itself"</a> as one of the core principles North Korea has said must be part of any unification agreement. It calls for building a single nation without the involvement of foreign governments that maintains North Korea's brand of autocratic socialism, which is known as "Juche." </p>
<p>Tensions have been high between the US and South Korea in the wake of the massive hack on the movie studio Sony Pictures that began late last November. American officials have blamed the cyberattack on North Korea. The hackers released statements indicating they objected to the portrayal of Kim Jong Un in Sony's movie "The Interview." North Korea has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-blames-the-us-for-internet-outages-2014-12">denied it was involved in the hack</a>. </p>
<h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/odd-facts-about-north-korea-2014-12">11 Mind-Blowing Facts About North Korea</a>
</h3>
<div><div>
<script src="//player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script><div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width:1920px;height:1080px"></div>
<script>OO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', 'U5cm1rbzr6xsyLAnNsj2Bl5wIClmUX-Q'); });</script><noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript>
</div></div>
<p class="embed-spacer"></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-says-hes-open-to-a-high-level-summit-with-south-korea-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-proposes-summit-with-south-2014-12Kim Jong Un Says He Would Resume 'High-Level Meetings' With South Koreahttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-proposes-summit-with-south-2014-12
Thu, 01 Jan 2015 06:57:30 -0500
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54a4a1f25afbd316048b4567-450-300/north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-proposes-summit-with-south.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides the multiple-rocket launching drill of women's sub-units under KPA Unit 851, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 30, 2014. REUTERS/KCNA "></p><p>SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said there was 'no reason' not to hold a high-level summit with neighboring South Korea, speaking in a new year's address broadcast by state media on Thursday.</p>
<p>"If South Korean authorities sincerely want to improve relations between North and South Korea through talks, we can resume stalled high-level meetings," he said.</p>
<p>"If the atmosphere and environment is there, there is no reason not to hold a high-level summit (with South Korea)," Kim said, speaking in what appeared to be a pre-recorded message.</p>
<p>South Korea proposed on Monday to resume stalled inter-Korean talks with North Korea in January to cover issues including reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sohee Kim; Writing by James Pearson)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-proposes-summit-with-south-2014-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>